I'd never been very good at it. I could play, but would almost always lose to anyone that had spent any real time studying chess. Then a couple years ago I got

I'd never been very good at it. I could play, but would almost always lose to anyone that had spent any real time studying chess. Then a couple years ago I got into it and spent maybe 100 hours on it. Now I know I can demolish anyone that doesn't really play, but I'm probably at the bottom of any club or group of serious players. One innovative tool that helped a lot is http://chesstempo.com http://chesstempo.com. It presents puzzles, but each puzzle has a dynamic rank, so the site is always adjusting what it gives you to your current skill level.